There were a several games that left an incredible impression on me as an individual. I think I can narrow them down into these five, however.

Phantasy Star IIThis was the beginning of the end for me. I probably had no business playing this game when I was 9 years old, as it had many mature themes. However, I did play it, and I still remember it now with an amount of fondness. Before this game, playing videogames was merely a hobby of mine. They were something to play when I was bored, or when you had friends over. Afterwards, videogames became an integral part of my character. I started to consider myself as a "gamer," and so began my quest to find for more difficult and unique challenges.

Tetris and Street Fighter IIWhereas PhS II changed the way I viewed games, these 2 games changed the way I played them. I remember always going through strategy guides trying to find the best ways to get through stages, the best equipment to use, the best characters to use, etc. In Tetris and SF II, though, there were so many different ways to win. There was no perfect strategy. These games taught me to play games for me. There are individual ways to play practically every game, everyone has their own strategy. There are exceptions, but for the most part, there is no "wrong" way to play any game.

Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III in the U.S.)
FF VI had the greatest emotional impact on me, and still does to this day. One of the main themes in this installment of FF was abandonment. All of the characters, even the villains, lost something or someone important to them. I immeadiately identified 3 characters:
Locke, for his sense of justice.
Gau, for his personal strength and wildness.
Shadow, for his guilt and remorse of the past.
I feel that is probably the most fantastic RPG made so far. The main themes are very human themes, and it seems that there should be a character that everyone can make an emotional attachment to. I'm getting off track, though. Everything about this game was incredible. After I played this game, the notion came to me that videogames may be considered an art form. Not all of them, just as all movies aren't considered art, but many of them are filled with so much personal expression from the creators, that they can actually teach something fundamental. Whenever I watch the ending to FF VI, tears well up in my eyes. I dare say, that this game is what gives me hope.

Phantasy Star OnlineThis was the first multiplayer game I ever played. Of course, I felt like I had to play it since it was a PhS game, and I don't regret that I did. I am a very serious gamer, and this game allowed me to meet many people with the same views as me. It showed me that I was not alone. In fact, my friends from PSO and I, that lived in the same area, decided to meet up in real life. We are still friends to this day, and hang out all the time.

Copernicus of the New Age, take this unbearable weight of gravity, and liberate this galaxy!"
~ Kenji Miyazawa

super mario bros.the first game i ever played. it was a great game when i was young my brother introduced it to me. the game told me that video games are the best things to play. it also made me enjoy adventure games.

mortal kombat 1the first fighting game ever played. when i saw the blood it change my life. it was also my first game for saga and first game for a fighting game. this game made me enjoy fighting games.

breath of fire 1+2the first rpgs i got in my life and for the snes. it was cool how the hero can turn into a dragon. the storyline was really good and so was the gameplay. when i beat the game i played it again and again, from start to end. i let one of my friend borrow breath of fire 1 and he lost it. i made him buy me another one. thats how much i love that game.

final fantasy 7first final fantasy i played and got. i got it when it was greatest hit. i forgot why i got it then. the love of final fantasy began.

Last edited by Alucard on Tue Oct 05, 2004 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't regret the decision I made that day. Even now. But...my heart still aches. I..I want to follow my heart. Whether it is right or wrong will be judged by history. - Pahn

Its the game that got me interested in RTK and strategy games for that matter. Its broadened my mind and it got me interested in history and games with a storyline and deep gameplay. It changed me as a gamer more than any other game.

Zelda: ocarina of time - this was the game that got me into video dames. It was the first realy good game i played and opened me up to other great games out there.

Final fantasy X - this is by far the best game i have ever played in my life and the themes in this game got to me and realy changed the way i think about things. the religious thoughts and themes about hope, truth, death, and why people do what they do was really deep and meaningful.

fianlf antasy VIII - this game also got to me becasue of the theme of lonleiness and isolating yourself out of fear of getting hurt. this was something i could definatly relate to.

Altered Beasts for Genesis was terrific and was one of the first games I played.

No games have changed my outlook on life or personality. They have only changed my interests and my time management.

"Woe unto you, ye souls depraved
Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;
I come to lead you to the other shore,
To the eternal shades in heat and frost.
And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,
Withdraw thee from these people, the dead"

(Mario/Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, and Racing game[unknown title])
These are the first games I've ever played. I played them when I was 4 on my apple II. I can't remember the order I first played them in but all of them were all significant I suppose. The Mario/Donkey Kong game I'm talking about is the one where Donkey rolls barrels down the incline and you have to get up to him, don't remember the exact title. Mario Bros (note: not Super Mario Bros) at least I think was the game were Mario and Luigi have to kill endless kumpa minios only by bumping the blocks underneath them. They remade this game on the GBA as part of Mario advance. And the Last one, it was just some generic racing game, not much detail that even I recall. Finally, all of these games only had 1 color when I played them, and that's green.

SimCity 2000:
This game turned me into a hardcore gamer. Before Sim City 2000 I would only casually play some of the PC games that I have and I didn't have any consoles at the time. Sim City 2000 is the first game that I would play for months on end and still wouldn't stop. After I stopped playing Sim City, I looked for more games that would do the same.

Falcon 3.0:
For its time it was very realistic flight simulator. This is the game I got into after Sim City 2000. I flew so many missions in Persian Gulf, Kurials Islands, and Korea. This game gave me a taste of realism that some games can try to mimic and I love it and I kept searching for it. Rarely do I find realism of Falcon 3.0 can be matched with a few notable exception of Falcon 4.0 and Rainbow 6 series games.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert
This is the game that got me into RTS genre. At the time I was still hooked on the realism Falcon 3.0 offered and I love war games, and this is the first title that caught my eye that try to combine realism and wargaming. As it turned out I was mistaken but I'll get back to that later.

Diddy Kong Racing:
First Console game I have purchased. This is what appears to be the first step in the acquisition of many many other console games.

Diablo 1:
This is the first game I have played multiplayer in. I played with some of my friends everynight after school for weeks until we finally took down Diablo himself. Incidentally this is also the first game where i encounter lag ^-^. Ahhh the good old days of the 56k modem.

Final Fantasy VIII:
Ah the game that got me hooked on console RPGs. Thx to this game I have been playing both newer and older FF titles, other RPGs such as Chrono Cross and Xenogears. At the moment I am still replaying some of the older RPGs I have missed.

Starcraft/Age of Empires/Empire Earth:
After C&C:RA I was not satisfied with the realism offered in that game but I firmly did believe that higher level of realsim can be acheived. Thus I kept getting other RTS such as Starcraft, Age of Empires, and Empire Earth. However after having played those games, I realize that the amount of realism that I seek can never be truly achieve with mainstream RTS such as those. In short, I have fell out of favor with mainstream RTS, something that I once thought would never happen. The RTS I play now are those of the, Homeworld, Close Combat series, Combat Missions, and various RTS similar to it.

FFX - Showed me just how complicated, sad, happy, simple, different (but still similar somehow) life can really become. It was a truly a spiritual journey for me. [BTW FFX was my first FF game, quite frankly I wasnt disappointed ]

DW2 & DW3 - Introduced me to the world of RoTK.

Unreal Tournament - My first FPS played online.

Dune - I remember playing this game when I was only 5 years. I mastered it when I became 7. Ever since then, I became a unshakable fan of the Dune series (both games and books) and Westwood Studios (makers of C&C).

Civilization - Played this when I was 5 as well. Got me interested in all strategy games after playing this.

"If you surrender, you have already lost. If you refuse to give up, though, no matter the odds against you, atleast you have succeeded in trying."

Super Mario Bros 3 - The very first game that I ever played. I basically got hooked on Video Games because of this. Every game like DW3 that got me into ROTK dates back to Mario Bros because without it, I would've probably never play DW3 cause I wouldnt probably be playing Video Games.

"To obtain peace we must go to war. If only the world was a lot easier"